Saturday, March 21, 2015

Last year I completed a British Armored Squadron for Flames of War gaming. With the late war battles of Market Garden for inspiration and the sound track from "A Bridge Too Far" blasting in my head I set about painting the Irish Guard. That army saw a lot of action at my favorite game store, but now that I've moved to a new house it's a bit of a drive to make it to there to play. There are stores that are closer but they don't play Flames of War unfortunately. So now if I want to play I have to invite a buddy over. Which also means I have to supply a second army.

So, while I'm working on my Mid-War German and Soviet armies, I will occasionally side track and paint some Germans to fight my Brits. Best part of painting Germans is that I can use them for both Eastern Front and Western Front. So who knows? These Fallshirmjager may see action against the Soviets, or my SS Panzergrenadiers may end up fighting my Brits.

Here's the HQ for my Fallshirmjagerkompanie. I've painted both command stands without Panzerfaust so they can be cheaper, but I have one extra with a Panzerfaust just in case I have some points left over after I add the other toys. There's two Panzerschrecks to add some punch!

Here's my first Fallshirmjager Platoon with 3 full squads. You just can't have enough infantry right??

And... just to add some more terrain I got some trees from the hobby store and mounted them on bases.

That's the latest updates. My 2nd Platoon of Strelkovy are still in progress.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

My birthday was last week, and my wonderful wife surprised me with all kinds of goodies. She had asked for hints on what kind of gifts I might like so I suggested I'd like some of the Eastern Front WWII terrain from Total Battle Miniatures. I was really just expecting a building, maybe two. She got me two houses and a barn... AND A HUGE CHURCH. I had to say I was totally shocked when I unwrapped this thing. Obviously, I couldn't wait to start painting it! Unfortunately the postal service decided to have an impromptu football match with the package before delivering it to my doorstep so I had some repairs to make before I could even start. But with some glue, green stuff, sweat, cursing and eventual tears I got it fixed enough to start priming.

Here's a some pictures...

The building consists of 4 pieces. The bottom piece is a heavier type of resin than the other pieces.

And now the real question. Just how big is this church? Huge. It will definitely be the center of attention when its on the table. Here's a picture with some proud 15mm troops waving the Soviet flag.

I have to say I'm really impressed with this model. Also, according to my wife Total Battle Miniatures rushed the order to get it here on time. So I definitely recommend them as a class act if you happen to be considering ordering any of their stuff in the future.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Every so often the "show us your lead pile" conversation comes up in forums. Like most miniature gamers, I do have one. Is it bad? Well, it's not great, but not near as big as it used to be. When I got married I decided it was time to sort through the pile and figure out what I want to keep and what was on the I'm-never-gonna-get-that-done-list. So, it's a pile that I can reasonably finish with just a bit of concentration and motivation. It's actually a relief. Here's a picture of my lead/plastic/resin pile...